Fork Facts

Kitchen forks have been endlessly evolving for the past millennium or so. But a historical background check will put its origins somewhere in Greek. Initially used for the carving of meat, the fork comes to the dining table pretty late. It was around the 7th century that royal courts in the Middle Eastern Muslim world started to use the fork on the dining table. In another century, they were passed on to the Byzantine world, where the use of forks at the dining table became symbolic in wealthy and noble families. The fork was later carried on to Italy through a matrimonial alliance with the Byzantine. After a long dormant period, the flow continued into Francem when Catherine de Medicis married Henry II. The Fork came to the English notice by a man called Thomas Coryate, who brought forks to England in 1608. It took a very long time for the English to take up the fork as it initially met cultural resistance.